Fox 2 Anchor Taryn Asher's Attorney Tried Unsuccessfully to Reverse Her Firing. Now Her Desk Has Been Cleaned Out.

An attorney for Taryn Asher has cleared up the mystery as to why she has been off the air since November. Management had been mum about her absence.

Fox 2 anchor Taryn Asher

Attorney Matthew Turner told Deadline Detroit Monday that Asher was fired in November and that he “spent most of this time trying to get them to realize the error of their ways and bring her back, but they refused.”

Turner’s response came after Deadline Detroit asked about her newsroom desk being cleaned out within the past few days.

He said it became clear that Fox 2 was not going to let Asher return, “so we finally said, ‘OK, give her all her stuff back, and we’re going to proceed to the next step, which is ultimately going to be litigation.’”

He said all she asked was that they continue to treat her equally to her male counterpart, as they had always done before the change in management.

“All of a sudden, she started recognizing that she wasn’t getting the same treatment, the same assignments, the same scheduling, and she brought it to their attention—and apparently they didn’t like that,” he said.

He said a few weeks ago he filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the station alleging gender discrimination. 

In February, Asher broke her public silence about her absence in an Instagram post, saying she was “thoughtfully working through an unexpected work-related matter.”

Asher did not elaborate but wrote: “Thank you to everyone who has reached out with love and kindness these past three months. I miss connecting with you each day.”

News director Brooks Blanton did not immediately respond Monday to an email seeking comment. Asher deferred to her attorney Monday for comment.

Asher still remains on Fox 2’s website of on-air personalities.

Asher, who grew up in Fenton, had been a Fox 2 reporter and anchor before being officially named co-anchor in 2022 with Roop Raj. The two have had big shoes to fill, replacing popular veteran anchors Huel Perkins and Monica Gayle, who retired earlier that year.

A 1997 graduate of Michigan State University, Asher came to Fox 2 in 2007 from WJRT-TV in Flint, where she worked for seven years. Before that, she worked for WLNS in Lansing.